House Wedel

Width at front: c. 2.60 metres

The Wedel was built around 1573 as an extension to the Haus an der Pforte. In 1604 it was demolished, and was divided on rebuilding to create another house, the neighbour Goldene Zange. The builders and first occupants of Wedel were members of the Cahn family from the Haus zur Pforte, preserving the close family links. Later the house was occupied by other families, for example the Lurie family, which settled in the house under Aaron Lurie, a Hamburg Jew who migrated in 1654 and married a Frankfurt Jew. At the end of the 17th century there was a minor scandal involving the Lurie family: Frankfurt's mayor was trying to distrain on an asset (not specifically described) of Aaron Lurie when Aaron's son, Gabriel, insulted him so grossly that Gabriel was expelled from the city. Around 1700 the families living in the house were active in the cloth trade and silk trade. In the great fires in the Judengasse in 1711, 1721 and 1796 the house was destroyed three times. It was rebuilt after the first two fires, but after the 1796 fire it was decided to redevelop the entire northern end of the Judengasse on spacious lines, in the course of which the house disappeared finally.